Baking with Baking Soda!

In our second unit cooking in Food, we did a lab report on experimenting the different types of leavening agents, such as biological leavening agents and biological leavening agents. In order to experiment with the different types of leavening agents, we split up into groups of 3. The most challenging part for me was the test. I tend to freak out about test and timing frames but turns out to get a good grade. One thing I would be proud of is how our bread turned out knowing it was delicious.

Leavening Agents Experiment
Food AP2
5/13/17
Group: Baking soda
partners: RP, EM

For this experiment, we tested different types of leavening agents such as baking soda, sourdough, and yeast.  Leavening agents is a substance creating the dough expansion by releasing gases within the mix. Baking soda and sourdough are chemical leavening agents which would make them experimental groups as they have been chemically altered to rise faster. In order for baking soda to work properly, it must be used with another acidic ingredient such as buttermilk. Yeast would be used as our controlled group knowing it is a biological leavening agent. This means it is a natural leavening agent that may take longer to rise as it ferments the sugars in the food that create carbon dioxide.

Which leads us to our question, Which leavening agent will leaven the bread higher? My hypothesis was baking soda will rise higher. The reason behind this would be when I think of baking I associate baking soda with it from all the previous recipes I've seen.

Ingredients:

Sourdough:

4 cups water
10 cups flour
3.5 tbsp salt
¾ cup sourdough starter

Yeast:

3 Cups Lukewarm Water
6.5 to 7.5 cups of All Purpose Flour
1 Tbsp salt
1.5 Tbsp Dry or Active Yeast

         Baking Soda:

3.5 cups flour
2 cups buttermilk
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

Procedure:

Sourdough:

1. Combine all the ingredients except salt
2. Let the dough sit for 15-60 minutes
3. Add salt
4. Knead dough for 10 to 15 minutes
5. keep the dough at room temperature for 4-6 hours
6. Slit the top and bake for 1 hour
7. Let sit to cool then slice

Yeast:

1. Mix all the needed ingredients for the dough
2. Cover the bowl and let it sit for 2 hrs in room temperature to rise
3. Refrigerate for 2 hours
4. Make loaf and let it rise again for 1 hour
5. Slit top of the bread and bake for 25-35 minutes at 450 (temp)
6. Let it sit to cool and slice

Baking Soda:

1. Combine all dry ingredients
2. Pour in the buttermilk
3. Gently mix ingredients
4. Take out the bowl and shape it into a ball making sure not to knead it
5. Cut an x on the top
6. Bake for 40-50 minutes
7. Let it sit to cool and enjoy a slice

Calculations:

Baking soda: 
  No calculations needed because the recipe had the perfect serving size amount

Yeast: The yeast bread was done 1/4 of the recipe by multiplying all the ingredients by .25

  3 x .25 = ¾ cup
  7 x .25 = 1 ¾ cup
  1 x .25 = ¼ tbsp
  1.5 x .25 = ⅜ tbsp

Sourdough: The sourdough bread was 1/4 of the recipe
  3 x .25 = ¾ cup
  7 x .25 = 1 ¾ cup
  1 x .25 = ¼ tbsp
  1.5 x .25 = ⅜ tbsp

Variable	Control Group (Commercial Yeast Bread)	Experimental Group 1 (Sourdough)	Experimental Group 2 (Commercial Leavening Agent Bread)
Flour type	Same	same	Same
Dough rise time	2 hrs at room temperature and 2 hrs-7 days in the refrigerator	15-60 minutes	5 minutes
Oven temperature	450 F	500 F	450 F for 15 minutes, then 400 F for 20-30 minutes more
Bake time	25-35 minutes	2 hours	40 minutes
Dough amount	¼ of recipe	¼ of recipe	Full recipe
Other	N/A	N/A	buttermilk

Nutrition: My group calculated the nutrition information for baking soda by finding the the serving in each ingredient we used then added it all up together.

•   Calories 1400+240=1640. 66% of your daily usage nutrition. (= 1640/2500)

•   Carbohydrates 4 g from sugar + 322 g from flour + 24 g from buttermilk = 350 g 88% of my daily usage nutrition. (= 350/400)

•   Fat 6 g. 7% of our daily usage. (= 6/78)

•   Protein 50 g. 89% of my daily usage nutrition. (= 50/56)

Analysis: Yeast: The yeast bread lead up to be the only bread that was not burnt. It had the perfect amount of fluff and crust. The before and after height change was 48.1% which went from being 3" tall to 4" tall.

Sourdough: The sourdough bread turned out to be in the last place from the tasting department as it was completely burnt from the outside and raw on the inside. The cause of this might be from the technique used to knead. The before and after height change was decreased by 18.2%.

Baking soda: I I would say my group loaf of bread was the better tasting and the highest results in the height by 62.5%. The outer part of the bread was had a strong crunch which is personally my favorite. The baking soda was better from the sugar and buttermilk as it added a nice fluff and sweetness to it.

:This bar graph shows the before and after height difference in inch:

GA "Leavening Agents" (2017)

Overall my hypothesis was slightly right. The yeast bread increased the most in height but did not expand as much as experimental group 1 and 2 in width or length. The baking soda bread grew the most in height but didn’t change in width or length. The sourdough rose the most in all aspect but was smaller than the other bread.

Yeast:

GA "yeast bread" (2017)

Sourdough:

GA "sourdough bread" (2017)

Baking Soda:

GA "baking soda bread" (2017)